Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food, an anthology curated by Jeff Dupuis and A.G. Pasquella, imagines a future where food scarcity is the norm due to various forms of environmental destruction. I want to start this review by stating that I feel like I have so rarely read an anthology of short fiction that feels so tightly edited and knitted together like Devouring Tomorrow is. Each individual story is unique and each world within these brief pages feels distinct, and I as a reader had no problems immersing myself into each world. I continually came out of nearly every story commenting to myself that I couldn't believe how developed these short pieces of fiction felt with so little space to do so.

Each story felt intelligently crafted, leaving me with feelings of conflict and uncertainty where I continually asked myself "what is the right thing to do in this circumstance?" I particularly loved how these stories pushed the boundaries of normal society in ways that felt realistic. Each universe within is obviously a "doomsday scenario," but not everything felt black and white, and the various main characters and antagonists ranged from petty influencers to actual political or business partners to renegades and "rogues."

My main criticism however comes to how much focus was put onto being "inside" the world of affluency rather than outside of it. Many of the characters were those who came from the bourgeoisie or upper classes who were using their affluency and wealth to cheat the scarcity systems, and that was not something I found interesting after a while. In a food insecure future, I have far more interest in seeing how the lower classes deal with scarcity than I do seeing the wealthy take advantage of it. I would have liked to see more stories involving marginalized and disabled parties.

Another criticism I had was how little of the stories gave focus into the agricultural and farming side of food insecurity. I would have loved to have seen one or two more stories that talked about the way farmers and those in the meat industry would have responded to scarcity and insecurity of our food systems. One story did answer the question of what do the poor and homeless do in this scenario, Anuja Varghese's "A View Worth All the Aqua In the World," and it's as harrowing as my own speculations would be. This story was the one that made me feel the most sympathy and empathy for the main character involved.

All that said, two more stories in particular regarding both of my criticisms stuck out to me that have stayed with me as I read Devouring Tomorrow and after I finished it, and those two stories are both inventive and interesting, as well as having morals that are long lasting. Dina Del Bucchia's "I Want Candy" follows a popular food influencer who is experiencing all of these delicious meals and restaurants in a future where very few now can do so, and the story is told through a series of reviews and hate comments this influencer receives. Carleigh Baker's "Pollinators" follows a protagonist working at a gherkin farm where the farmers are trying to domesticate night moths in order to pollinate their fields after the collapse of bees, which results in city officials and citizens revolting against the decision to turn off the electricity for a single evening.

Both stories left me with feelings of anger directed at the different parties involved, as well as sympathy for others that many of the stories didn't quite reach for me. I think these two stories are the stand out stories within this anthology alongside Anuja's piece.

All in all, Devouring Tomorrow is a fascinating collection of speculative fiction that I am absolutely grateful to have had the chance to read early. I find it to be more relevant than ever in our increasingly fraught lives in dealing with climate change.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jeff Dupuis and A.G. Pasquella, each author involved, and Dundurn Press for this advance copy!

Devouring Tomorrow explores the future of food through a mix of speculative stories, but it’s a hit-or-miss experience. While some pieces are engaging and offer fresh perspectives on food scarcity, technology, and culture, others feel underdeveloped and lack the depth to make a real impact. The inconsistency made it hard to stay immersed, though the stronger stories do leave some food for thought. It’s an interesting concept, but the execution didn’t fully deliver for me.

Devouring Tomorrow is a collection of short stories from different authors, in which the fil rouge is represented a dystopic near future in which food runs low. So we have a world in which water is used as currency, another world in which people feed themselves with memories of long lost dishes, another in which people can only assume a certain amount of calories per day, depending on what licence they own, and so on.

But there are also other examples of dystopias that, for me at least, were easier to imagine. For example, the story "Lorenzo And The Last Fig" is set in a world where crops and fruit trees have been virtually exterminated by a bacterium. This is not that far from what happened with olive trees and Xylella fastidiosa in Southern Italy, so we should be aware that, in some cases, we've already reached that point.

I loved to see the different interpretations of the theme from different authors. I believe some stories were clearer than others (especially in the world building). Overall, Devouring Tomorrow is a brilliant antology on a future that is not so distant from our current reality.

(I'd put a TW for ED before "Marianne is not hungry", unless there's one already, in that case I missed it)

I definitely like some of the stories more than others. A few of them may have been beyond me, but it's a very interesting anthology and well worth the read.

Weird. Disturbing. Bleak. A bit hopeful.
An eclectic mix of stories with food (not always, but in some little way) as the center of the narrative. Plot-driven stories. Character-driven stories. Sometimes, a bit of both. And then some that don't follow the conventions of either.

- Pleased to Meet You:
This really sets the tone for the rest of the book.
About sentient lab grown meat (possibly having an existential crisis). It's also introducing itself to the reader.

- I Want Candy:
Set in 2182. Written in the form of online reviews on a platform called Screech. Basically online rants and reviews which reveal that the class divide has only worsened over time. The poor eat shit and the rich eat weird shit.
Weird dates, though. After November 30, 2182, the reviews have a date of November 3, 2182. And the fire at the complex... does it mean one of the characters (Nic B.) is dead? Or is this not important? Is the main focus of the story just the commentary on weird foods and class divide? Because I definitely would have liked to read more. This is too short.
Jenny F. (who lives in Coal Harbour, Vancouver, BC) leaves glowing reviews for these absurd cafes and eateries that have floating tables (or beds instead of tables) and serve weird kinds of foods and drinks with names such as: "Rosemary Honeysuckle Spider Slow Release Soothers with the Web Cream Earl Grey Vape" and "Falmingo Ringo Dingo vape cartridge".
Nic B. (with no know address) is a jobless person who leaves one-star reviews on every restaurant and cafe or whatever bozo place there is in this future and hates Jenny F. and people like her who can waste their time and money on these places while he has to live in a shipping container "condo" with his friend, share a bathroom with 15 people and eat food/rations provided by the government that taste like shit.

- Succulent:
Written entirley in the form of a dialogue between three people who are deciding what to eat. A world where people eat celebrity flesh-flavored dishes. Celebrities who license their genes for the protein synthesizers get paid handsomely for it. Celebrities exist only as an uploaded consciousness for digital performance capture.
Very disturbing.

- Pollinators: Bees have disappeared from the world. Lydia Doss is a scientist working on attracting Tricorn moths (these are night pollinators) to the gherkin fields. There is a fear of world ending in five years. People are panicked and against the scientists who experiment at night and use enough energy for their experiments to cause blackouts in the city.
Also California has got robot bees thanks to some Silicon Valley investors who are going to claim the benefits of their work.
Again, a story with an interesting premise (and a normal human character) that seemed too short and seemed to end rather abruptly.

- Time to fly: Favourite story of the bunch.
A very touching story with a lot of heart set in a bleak world.
Lady Oceanos. A cruise ship with more than 2000 people on board. These people are the few survivors of the Third World War (the superpowers bombed each other with Hydrogen bombs). A 75 year old Elizabeth/Erzsébet reminisces about the past, tries to relive it, and learns to move on.

- A View Worth All the Aqua in the World:
There is dystopian and then there is... whatever the fuck this is. Haunting. Disturbing. Bleak (with, maybe, a tinge of hope). A world you don't want to live in. A desecration of everything beautiful about this beautiful planet of ours. The story is quite good.
Bee discovers an artifact of a civilization long forgotten and hopes to sell it to get some Aqua for herself and her son Gator (Aqua is currency).
There are holographic trees in this world. The story is set sometime after 2425. Cherry Blossoms have gone extinct (in 2425). People consider trees, lakes, and animals a myth. There has been a WW12. Most of the surviving information about pre-WW12 civilizations has been taken Off-World.
People eat something called VN and AquaSub, which have become the world's source of food.

- You Need a Licence for That:
Confusing. Frustratingly confusing.

- Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions:
Action-packed short story with (a sort of) unclear setting (is it a dystopian future or a medieval setting?) and food as surprisingly both a central and unimportant part (or maybe I missed the point). It is a well-written story. Again, too short.

- Just a Taste: Another favourite.
A story of lies, deceit, power, corruption, and murder over... a burger.
So far, this is the story with the most substance. It is not too short, it doesn't overstay it's welcome. It's in that perfect balance where you are satisfied with the one story that is told and interested in knowing more of the world.
A world that is detailed and interesting. A world with themes that are similar to the other stories in this collection, yet just different enough to stand out on it's own and distinguish itself from the other stories.

- Rubber Road:
A post apocalyptic survival of the fittest story with good character focused writing. Also, I've never read such descriptions of the sky before: colour of lemon tea, shade of cat piss and colour of an old bruise.

- Unlimited Dream:
Inception-like concept of dreams mixed with hunger, desire, a want for better life and the lies we tell ourselves to get there. A very good story.

- Marianne is Not Hungry:
Horror. Not the jump-scare kind. But a sort of body horror. Excellent story. Also, I think this does a better job with the narration than the first story (Pleased to Meet You) about sentient meat.

- Lorenzo and The Last Fig:
A good sad/happy story with beautiful prose style.

- Food Fight:
This is one fever dream of a story. Very character-driven, not much plot.

- The Crane:
A story that captures anxiety and overthinking perfectly. Also, one of the few (or maybe the only one) stories in this collection that benefits from being shorter in length than an average short story (it's only 5 pages long) and it works splendidly for the overcrowding thoughts of our main (and only) character.

- Recipe from the Future:
What the fuck was that? Madness. Sheer madness is what this story is. Madness from the lack of food. A fever dream of a story (or more of a rambling, really).

Author(s):
Jeff Dupuis (Editor)
A. G. Pasquella (Editor)

1. Catherine Bush (Pleased to Meet You)
2. Dina Del Bucchia (I Want Candy)
3. Elan Mastai (Succulent)
4. Carleigh Baker (Pollinators)
5. Lisa de Nikolits (Time to Fly)
6. Anuja Varghese (A View Worth All the Aqua in the World)
7. Sifton Tracey Anipare (You Need a Licence for That)
8. Ji Hong Sayo (Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions)
9. A. G. A. Wilmot (Just a Taste)
10. Terri Favro (Rubber Road)
11. Mark Sampson (Unlimited Dream)
12. Jowita Bydlowska (Marianne is Not Hungry)
13. Eddy Boudel Tan (Lorenzo and The Last Fig)
14. Chris Benjamin (Food Fight)
15. Jacqueline Valencia (The Crane)
16. Gary Barwin (Recipe from the Future)

Publisher: Dundurn Press
Publication Date: April 22, 2025.

A collection of short stories by Canadian authors on the theme of food and climate change. I liked some, a couple I did not connect with the storytelling. However, the overall concept was terrifying and thought provoking.

This is a mixed bag of short stories by Canadian writers on the effects of climate change on food and eating. Some are told with a fairy-tale like wonder, like a story about a fig tree and its progeny, while others are slice-of-life--I liked one in which a scavenger finds a book, which, being incredibly rare, earns her enough water--used as a commodity--to buy better food for herself and her son. Some are funny--there's a great eat-the-rich parody in which the only ethical meat is determined to be human mean, because humans can consent, and so celebrities offer meat cloned from their bodies--while others are expectedly grim. There's not a whole lot of originality, though; there are too many retreads of topics that have been used to death. Usually anthologies like these lead me to read more by the writers who are included, and there may be one or two here I'll track down for more, but overall the collection is a bit under the bar for me to endorse it with much enthusiasm.

Overall, this was an okay read, but nothing really stood out for me. If you enjoy dystopian stories with recurring themes around food scarcity and survival, give it a try. For me, it was hit or miss—some stories caught my interest, but most fell flat or felt like “telling” rather than “showing.”

Energy: Bleak. Acerbic. Lamenting.

🐺 Growls Some of the stories felt underdeveloped or overly focused on commentary - the focus is post-apocalyptic “worst-case” scenarios, but the constant emphasis on what’s “lost” felt repetitive, and it made the overall collection feel like it was hitting me over the head with the theme instead of just letting the plots unfold and speak for themselves.

🐕 Howls The majority either were too simplistic or too complex to fit in such a short length. Each story has different societal rules, technologies, and settings, but they’re often introduced with minimal explanation, making them confusing and difficult to follow. Some of these worlds felt so big that they needed more room to breathe—perhaps better suited to novellas or longer stories?

🐩 Tail Wags: Some stories were thought-provoking.

Mood Reading Match-Up:
Restaurant reviews. Protein synthesizer. Centrifuge. Smart glasses. Gum. Memories. Death. Hunger.
• Touch of bleak future randomness
• Witty, dark comedy moments
• Eco sci fi disaster energy
• Post apocalyptic and dystopian stories
• Using little details to infer what the situations are

Content Heads-Up: War (nuclear, mass death). Food insecurity. Financial insecurity. Pregnancy. Natural disasters. Dog abandonment. Death. Loss of loved ones. Climate/environmental collapse. Gun violence.

Rep: Canadian.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Dundurn Press | Rare Machines and NetGalley

A fantastic short story collection exploring food scarcity, abundance, and mutations in a futuristic setting. I enjoyed a lot of the references some stories made to satire works, especially A Modest Proposal. My favorite was by far “Recipe From the Future” although I really enjoyed “Lorenzo and the Last Fig” as well! Thank you to the publisher, Dundurn Press and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

Combine my love of food with my fear of a future without it (the way it exists today) and you’ll have effectively pulled me in. A series of short stories set in a changed future world (one we are likely heading towards) some of my favorites included:

- pleased to meet you
- succulent
- pollinators
- a view worth all the aqua in the world
- unlimited dream

Very interesting set of stories that left me thinking.

Will definitely be ordering and recommending. Good collection and mostly enjoyed the stories, as much as you can with this theme. I found some new to me authors to look into and that is the best part about these collections for me.

Rating this short story collection was difficult as though all the stories were linked through a similar theme, my level of enjoyment varied. I did enjoy that some stories were dystopian and dark, whereas others were light and weird. I also found this collection extremely compelling and relevant to the current world.

Thank you to netgalley and Dundurn Press for allowing me to read this book before publication.

Wow! These stories are powerful reminders of what we are doing to our home! Very scary and very real! Loved this book so much and it’s very thought provoking and sad, at times.

I think it’s always hard to rate a collection of short stories, some were of course better than others. I really liked the unique thread that tied these together. All of them were a little dystopian, but some were positive and some were quirky and unique. My favorite was A View Worth all the Aqua in the World, and Just a Taste.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

As a passionate fan of speculative fiction, I found this short story collection to be quite enjoyable. The central theme—the future of food—is explored from various perspectives. Some stories are humorous, while others are tragic, and some raise important ethical questions.
Although some of the short stories are more entertaining than others, the collection as a whole is impressive, showcasing a wide range of styles and settings.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Please note this is a 3.5.

This was an interesting compilation of short speculative fiction pieces centered around one of the base instincts of humanity - eating. As with all anthology pieces, some of these were real standouts, and others were lacking. I found a lot of the concepts really interesting, but particularly the idea of celebrity consumption (which, let's face it, everyone borders with parasocial relationships they hold with celebrities if they do so), and the idea of the memory of food existing where it cannot be shared with the wider world.

I think the story that grabbed me the most was the latter, with the idea of memory 'hoarding' of foods and tastes and concepts. We currently live in a world where food availability in first world countries has never been easier, and we have nearly every possible taste available to us in easy reach. A world reduced to very little taste and substance is, of course, a very possible reality, especially with food insecurity, and we may well one day find ourselves reaching to grasp the memory of a burger from something that has been around far longer than we have.

I did think that there were some stories, particularly towards the end, that could have stood to have a little more substance. I started them, was just starting to get into them, and then they ended. This is, of course, a common course with anthologies, but I did want a little bit more from some of the authors in making this a meatier collection. It was definitely thought-provoking and interesting, however!

This was my very first short story collection, and can I just say…it was beautifully terrifying. I enjoyed more of the funny ones (like the people going back and forth with their reviews), but it really gave me a lot to think about.

I say it’s terrifying because some of these seemingly outrageous things (eating celebrity flesh that they sold when they were alive??) could be the reality of the world in 100 years (never know, I’m sure people in 1924 didn’t think we’d have iPhones lol).

Overall, these short stories were so well written and I would be interested to read more from some of these writers

Like most multi-authored anthologies, some stories caught my attention and others were more of a struggle to get through. This collection presents a diverse range of voices and styles, which is both its strength and its challenge.

I like that the collection was centered around the theme "Fiction from the Future of Food." Though, to be honest, some of the stories felt heavy-handed.

That being said, if you like weird, speculative, black mirror-esque stories, then definitely check out this collection! 90% of the stories are unique, thoughtful, engaging and freaky!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC!

4/5 Stars

This is an anthology of short stories about the future of food in a climate warmed world written by Canadian authors I’m not much of a fan of short story collections and don’t read them very often as I often find that I’m just getting into a story when it’s over and I’m having to readjust to the next one. I did have a reach for this collection as I’m a fan of dystopian fiction and the subject matter of a future when food access is not as easy it is now interested me
As always when reviewing a an anthology like this is very difficult to do that and mention all the authors individually. All the stories were interesting and well written and the editor has worked hard to collate a selection of stories at all work well together.
A few of the stories that stuck in my wind were Pleased to meet you, by Catherine Bush the thought of the genetically modified food you eat having a mind and being able to communicate with you after it was really creepy
In story, Succulent by Elon Mastel celebrities donate their genetic sequence to make artificial meat and it’s quite an amusing concept
You need your license for that by sifton Tracey anipare grabbed me immediately why would women need license? Make a baby or to eat or both? The scene when she’s in the toilet munching on a cake was fabulous
Lorenzo and the last Fig tree by Boudel tan The last fig tree on Earth emblematic of the we treat nature I love the image of this tree surrounded around it by guards and fences quietly dying from lack of love is so emblematic of our relationship with Mother Earth .This was I think my favourite story
In summary this is a well collated interesting selection of stories loosely about our relationship with food and it’s future in a dystopian world. The order had different writing style but all of them were interesting and enjoyable to read.

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK in April 2025 by Dundum press
This review will appear on NetGalley UK Goodreads, and my book blog BionicSarahsbooks.wordpress.com. After publication it will also appear on Amazon UK.

I enjoyed reading this collection. Some stories caught my attention more than others, but all had their merits. Short stories about the future of food amongst climate change, population growth, the loss of pollinators were always going to be my cup of tea. The overall vibe of the book was Black Mirror-esque, and many of the stories gave me a sense of foreboding. Some of the stories I would have loved to have seen as a novel or even a novella with a little bit more time spent in the story and with the characters. Thanks for the ARC.